Manufacturers of consumer goods often apply absorbents in solid forms to their products. To date, manufacturers have mostly relied on the use of drums and vacuum to deliver solid absorbents to the product. To date, absorbent precursors in a fluid state are not handled in a manner that allows for precise delivery to a substrate in a controlled manner accounting for shear while having precise fluid flow control. Manufacturers may use moving rolls having primarily axial fluid flow and/or primarily circumferential fluid flow which results in uneven fluid distribution and lack of fluid reaching parts of the rolls. In addition, such designs limit the number and sizes of fluid channels that may be incorporated into the device and limit the location of the fluid orifices stemming from those channels in a way that undermines precision. Alternatively manufacturers use printing plates and flat surfaces, which result in slower processing or imprecision when running at high rates as the printing plate may not be able to keep up with the moving substrate.
Known devices also suffer from imprecise registration, overlaying and blending of fluids. Because a single device is often used for a single fluid, registration, overlaying and blending between multiple fluids requires the use of more than one device. The inherent imprecision in each known device results in imprecision when trying to register (etc.) their respective fluids. Indeed, because the inability to control fluid flow and application and other factors in each device, known devices often are not able to precisely register fluids with other fluids or product features such as embossments or sealing areas.
Further, manufacturers are faced with higher production costs and resources due their inability to separately control different fluids in one printing device.
Therefore, there is a need for a controllable and/or customizable apparatus for depositing fluid(s) that permits more precise fluid deposition. Further still, there is a need for an efficient process for, and decreased manufacturing costs associated with, depositing one or more fluids on a substrate.